Routine traffic stop results in meth bust
A routine traffic stop ended in a drug bust on I-90 on Jan. 23. Mineral County Sheriff Tom Bauer said Sergeant A.J. Allard and Deputy Eric McMurray pulled over a vehicle for speeding near DeBorgia on Monday night. Two men were in the vehicle and there were reportedly indications of drug trafficking.
The deputies called Highway Patrol Trooper Shad Anderson with the K-9 unit, who found drugs when the vehicle was searched. Officers seized 20 pounds of meth, which has a street value estimated at $140,000.
The two suspects were Christian Ruiz and Hector Ganzalez, from the the Tri-Cities area of Washington. They were arrested with a bond set at $100,000 after appearing in Mineral County Justice Court.
Bauer said his deputies had gone through additional narcotic investigation training and commended them on a job well done, as well as the Highway Patrol officer and his canine unit.
“They’ve worked hard on this type of training, and it’s an area I wanted to focus on when I took over as sheriff,” he said. “They did just great work.”
Mineral County has joined in on a number of other drug busts the area has reported lately. On Jan. 24 two men were arrested in separate incidents in the Mission Valley. One was also from the Tri-Cities area, Leonardo Perez 18, of Pasco, and Michael Robinson, 38, from California.
Lake County Sheriff Don Bell reported that Robinson was arrested in a joint operation between the Mission Valley Drug Task Force and federal authorities, who raided a residence he was staying at on Jan. 22. A dozen grams of heroin were found and he was charged with drug distribution and obstruction charges. He’s being held on a $20,000 bond in the Lake County jail.
Perez was arrested after authorities found drugs in his vehicle, which had slid off Highway 28. They found a pound of meth and three-quarters of a pound of marijuana. He was charged with distribution.
Another large drug bust took place in Missoula early in January. It was reported that the U.S. attorney’s office announced a case against eight people who brought more than 11 pounds of meth into Montana. They were caught by investigators from the Montana Regional Violent Crimes Task Force, a partnership between the FBI and local law enforcement.
They also recovered around $11,000 in cash and 68 firearms from homes in East Missoula, Bonner and Hungry Horse. Among the weapons recovered were handguns, rifles, a machine gun with an attached grenade launcher and ammunition.
The defendants were given sentences which ranged from a little more than four years to 17 1/2 years in federal prison. The drugs were said to have been brought in from superlabs in Mexico and there is an increase in drug trafficking here because Montana has higher profits. A pound of meth sells for $4,000 to $5,000 in larger cities. However, in Montana, an ounce can sell for $900 to $1,000.